Religious Revivals of the Antebellum Period

Between the years of 1776 and 1850, the national rate of adherence for church membership in the United States doubled from 17 to 34 percent.¹. Before this period, religion was not an integral part of the majority of American lives, however, after the rise of revivalist sentiment and activities, church membership increased among the "fallen away" and new converts 2 . The contributing factor to this new found faith in so many lives was the declassification of religion. Revivalists used vernacular speech to speak to their audience; they put religion in understandable terms that could be made personalized 3 .

The word revival has two common meanings in this context, consisting of a local phenomenon or a broad popular movement with each having the same result--"an unusual increase in religious concern and of professed conversions that occurred in a communal setting"4 . Coupled with revival is the concept of revivalism. Revivalism revolves around the belief that an individual or whole culture is capable of experiencing radical transformation 5 . In short, revivalism is a method of introducing the gospel to people out of touch with Christianity using the method of spiritual revivals.

Revivalism is most often used in the historical context of the First and Second Great Awakenings, 1725 to 1769 and 1800-1830, respectively. These dates are still debated among historians and a scholarly following exists for the Third Great Awakening of 1890 to 1920 6 . After a generation of religious and moral decline following the revolutionary period, the Second Great Awakening emerged as a massive religious movement to deal with the appalling spiritual poverty of the young nation during the Antebellum period. "People everywhere were caught up in the movement and its influence was spread by innumerable local pastors, passing itinerants, and lay exhorters. No one could escape the excitement or avoid the necessity to declare himself friend or foe"7 .

The individualization of the religious experience afforded by the revivalist movement merged with the revolutionary spirit still rampant in the country to fulfill the perceived idea of God's destiny for America, a country founded on the right of freedom 8 . Married to the manifest destiny of America to become a great nation was the shift towards more emotionalism and personalization of worship, especially in rural cities like Athens, Georgia.

The Second Awakening followed a period of widespread drought of religious piety and the disintegration of morality in American society as a whole 9 . Due to the decreasing religious fervor, attention shifted toward women and their role as the purveyor of the moral standard in a family and thus, society as a whole. Women literally led their husbands, who went only to show their patriarchal authority, and their children into church. "Women were sometimes afforded greater freedom of public expression during revivals but were also subjected to innumerable sermons that defined the home as their appropriate sphere"10 . While the revivalist movement gave women more outlets outside of the home to gain emotional support, it held them back from further mobility in society, especially the pursuit of any roles held by men.

Early revivals are characterized by "profound solemnity" and emotional restraint, except for quiet weeping" 11 . Religious services had become trite and predictable contributing to the overwhelming success of the active and entertaining revival. Charles Grandison Finney, perhaps the most influential revivalist of the period, understood the importance placed on transforming the way religion was experienced. He had suffered great emotional stress and agonizing prayer upon his conversion and was unable to conceive of receiving salvation of Jesus Christ without great emotional turmoil. Finney adopted a method of religious practice called "New Measures" designed to personalize the conversion process. He dealt with potential converts on a one on one basis, organized "cottage prayer meetings" with other members to pray for the unconverted by name , and allowed the full participation of women in most religious activities 12 . His wife Elizabeth even established daily prayer meetings for women.

Following Finney's lead, revivals between 1800 and 1830 stressed the concept of "self-help" opposed to the prior belief that man was helpless and completely dependent upon God 13 . This shift in focus meant that divine power was not elected to certain individuals, but instead God empowered all individuals directly who asked in prayer 14 . Revivalism made the individual responsible for his or her own repentance and salvation, and the revival atmosphere provided a safe haven for an individual to experience God's presence just as their neighbors did 15 . With the focus placed on salvation being dependent on an individual's decisions, religion became personal, not mandated by the institution of church 16 .

Salvation, believed by revivalists, was the beginning and not the end for a Christian. They disavowed the major Calvinistic themes reigning at the time concerning election, predestination, and the inability of an individual to determine their own course of action 17 . A revivalist preacher was to convict his audience of their worthlessness and sinning nature, and then convince them that they could be covered in grace and forgiveness. Revivals took place with an overwhelming emphasis on human depravity along with the accessibility of God's freely given mercy to those who would repent 18 .

"Sermons that put forth the wretchedness of sinners and moans of repentance were the marks of the revival experience¹⁹. Religious experiences prior to the revivalist movement are best described as solemn, convicting, and depressing. Worship usually involved very intricate hymns, or chanting, with no emotion. The sermon would be fire and brimstone, focusing on Hell and the worthlessness of all people. Church was not an edifying, encouraging, or even supportive experience as a whole. Individuals believed in an inability to reach God or experience His love. Revivals, with their emotional aspects, emerged after "tightly-argued, closely adhered-to theological formulations with emphasis on structure and reason"20 .

Camp meetings, an outgrowth of the revivalist movement, are described as the first large-scale, popular entertainment's in the United States. Camp meetings could be planned months in advance or in the case of the camp meeting of Lake Ontario, they could be hastily organized in matter of days. Methodist Phoebe Palmer wrote letters of her and her husbands religious experiences on their trip to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. The couple witnessed the conversions of 2000 people on their journey and over 500 in ten days when they were delayed on their way home and local ministers united three interdenominational prayer meetings 26 .

Scholars disagree on the birth of the camp meeting. The Second Great Awakening is credited with being different from the eastern experience, not only due to the need to appeal to the common man, but also due to the need of having the meetings outside because of the large numbers of people 27 . Large numbers of people seem to be a characteristic of the revival, and especially the camp meeting. A revival held in Athens in August of 1848 had "the Church thronged with attendants"28 . Contrary to this reason, some scholars credit the Presbyterian church with the origination of outdoor gatherings "under the trees" that evolved into the camp meeting 29 . Eventually the meetings became prolonged over several days due to the long and tiring distances traveled by families to a camp meeting site.

Revivals were also known to last longer than planned. A Four Day's Meeting held in May of 1831 in Athens at the Presbyterian Church shows the avid interest for revivals and how they were never long enough for participants"30 .

"After the usual time had arrived for closing the religious exercises, the state of feeling was such that it was deemed proper to continue them, and accordingly, they were kept up by the different denominations without interruption, until last Sabbath"³¹

The first real camp meeting was in 1800 in Logan County, Kentucky. People were attracted to the meeting to hear the charismatic preaching of James McGready³². The greatest of all recorded camp meetings was held at Cane Ridge, Bourbon County, Kentucky and was hosted by Barton W. Stone 33 . The event signals the beginning of the Second Great Awakening due to the massive exodus of people to the site and the national exposure.

Going to the camp meeting was "a high point in the social, as well as the religious life of the pioneer, and no one wanted to miss it"34 . The following description of a camp meeting held in Baltimore in 1806 shows the excitement of a participant and the elaborate nature of the event:

"I was at a happy camp meeting in the first of October, the greatest I ever was at. Such a one I never saw before. Our tents were pitched in form around the stand - behind the stand were the coulered peoples tents - 3 rows of tents facing the stand . . . plank seats, to seat three or four thousand people, or perhaps five thousand"³⁵.

This description continues to describe the order of events for the day. Morning began with a trumpet blown at daybreak and family prayer twenty minutes later. At sunrise, the trumpet is blown again for public prayer. At ten o'clock, the preaching would begin and continue for the rest of the day except for a break in the afternoon for lunch"³⁶. Three guards would be present at a camp meeting: an outer guard would be responsible for policing all the camp grounds, an inner guard would stand in the aisles and seat people to prevent disorder, and an official guard would bring the "Mourners" forward and direct them to people designated to help them with their decision to convert 37 . Young boys, called runners, would keep the dogs and hogs out of the services 38 .

The end of the description exemplifies the emotion present at a camp meeting:

"Oh! Sollemn Seen! Will I ever see anything more-like the day of Judgment on this side of eternity-to see the people running, yes, running, from every direction to the stand, weeping, shouting, and shouting for joy. Prayer was then made-and every Brother fell upon the neck of his Brother and wept, and the Sisters did likewise. Then we parted. O! glorious day they went home singing and shouting"³⁹.

Also, there were numerous amusements on the outskirts of a revival or camp meeting causing much distress among patrons-" ⁴⁰. Sinners would patiently wait for the new converts to come outside the grounds and put God's forgiveness to the test. The high levels of emotions raised during a service also raised serious moral questions among the devout about many activities that overstimulated the passions such as alcohol, materialism, and sexuality 41 .

The outstanding effects of revivalism on the nation and religion are plentiful. The creation of large revival communities which softened boundaries between religious denominations suggests bonds among Christians who had experienced the divine power of God side by side were more significant than their differences 42 . Athens churches experienced this same co-operation among the denominations. "The utmost harmony has subsisted between the different denominations throughout, and there has been the cheerful co-operation in the work, without regard to sectarian views, that should ever mark the conduct of the Christian" 43 . The movement created potential implications for culture and even politics over which historians still argue 44 . Enthusiasm for party politics grew parallel to revivals in the 1830s, and that political enthusiasm continued until well after the Civil War 45 .

Before the revivalist movement emerged, serious press coverage of religious subjects did not exist at all or merely involved brief notices of worship services, prayer, or camp meetings, and the activities of elite religious leaders in the local community or nation 46 . However, around 1858 sensationalistic or human interest reporting about middle-class Protestantism became standard entertainment reading, rather than informational 47 . Even the most sedate revivals incorporated some element of entertainment that would make a good element of news. Citizens of Athens were very aware of the revivals taking place throughout the nation: "The present revival has been universal over the country by the acts from newspapers"48 . The sheer size of and heterogeneity of the audiences exceeded anything of its kind before the Antebellum period due to the "the spirit of the revival" permeating the entire nation and all classes of people 49 .

Revivalists were acting out of the spirit that had brought the nation through a war fought for freedom from oppression and the promise of a young nation on the verge of becoming great. Revivalist preachers saw no limitations in their pursuit to bring Christianity, their own breed, to all Americans in order to protect the country' future. Their goal was to hold the nation back from becoming an immoral people unworthy of carrying on the name of a nation created and won for the purpose of allowing freedom to all citizens, especially freedom of religion.